Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced splits difficulty into four separate sliders. You tune Combat, Stealth, Naval Combat, and Activities independently, so you can keep on-foot fights tough while making shark dives or ship battles easier. Every game starts with all four set to Normal, and none of these choices lock you in.
Quick answer: Pause the game, open the System menu, then go to Options > Gameplay > Difficulty Tuning to adjust Combat, Stealth, Naval Combat, and Activities separately at any point in your playthrough.
Change difficulty from the Gameplay tab
The four sliders live in the same menu, and you can reach them mid-mission without restarting.
Note: Changing away from the default is never permanent, so there is no penalty for lowering a slider during a hard stretch and raising it again afterward.
Combat difficulty: Story, Normal, and Hard
Combat covers every fight where Edward is on foot, including boarding actions after you take a ship. Higher settings make enemies swing faster and hit harder, and Hard even gives standard foes unblockable red-glint attacks. One-shot assassination kills stay intact at all levels, unlike Assassin’s Creed Shadows.
| Setting | What changes |
|---|---|
| Story | Enemies deal reduced damage, and parry windows are very forgiving. |
| Normal | Balanced fights close to the original game; damage scales by enemy type such as elites, and parry timings are clearly telegraphed. |
| Hard | Enemies are more aggressive and hit harder, forcing steady use of parries, human shields, and dodges. |
Stealth difficulty: Forgiving, Normal, and Hard
Stealth controls how quickly guards spot you while you infiltrate hostile areas. Enemies investigate odd sounds and check bushes at any level, but detection speed shifts sharply with the setting. If sneaking is not your thing, the lower tiers make it easy to slip past.
| Setting | What changes |
|---|---|
| Forgiving | Detection bars fill slowly, and you can walk in front of enemies without being spotted on sight. |
| Normal | Still very lenient; yellow detection bars let you stay hidden. |
| Hard | Enemies detect you faster, especially those positioned at higher elevations. |
Naval combat difficulty: Forgiving, Normal, and Hard
Naval Combat governs ship-to-ship fights only. The moment you board an enemy vessel and fight on deck, the fighting falls under Combat Difficulty instead. Higher naval settings increase how much damage enemy ships do to the Jackdaw, so upgrades and officer maneuvers matter more.
| Setting | What changes |
|---|---|
| Forgiving | The Jackdaw is tankier and enemies miss more often, easing fights against high-tier ships like Man-O-Wars. |
| Normal | Requires steady Jackdaw upgrades to keep pace with the rising challenge across regions. |
| Hard | Enemy ships are far more aggressive; maxed upgrades are needed even for non-Legendary battles when you are outnumbered. |
Tip: On Hard, recruit officers for bonus maneuvers, master the Perfect Brace, and pick your targets carefully, since the proper ship upgrades become a survival factor rather than a convenience.
Activities difficulty: Forgiving, Normal, and Hard
Activities covers harpooning and diving at sunken ships, where sharks are a constant threat and your breath gauge limits how long you can stay under. This slider also changes how easy Perfect Shots are and how much air you get. By default, Edward holds his breath for about 1 minute and 45 seconds.
| Setting | What changes |
|---|---|
| Forgiving | Harpooning and Perfect Shots are easier, sharks deal less damage when they catch you, and breath extends to about 2 minutes. |
| Normal | Mimics the original game; harpooning needs sharper timing and dives are deadly without planning around breath barrels. |
| Hard | Perfect Shots demand precise timing, missed dodges take heavier shark damage, and breath drops to roughly 1 minute and 30 seconds. |
If drowning is the main obstacle, the Gameplay settings also include an Unlimited Oxygen toggle that removes the breath limit entirely, which is separate from the Activities slider.
No trophy is tied to difficulty
There is no difficulty-based trophy or achievement in the game. You can leave every slider on its lowest setting and still earn the Platinum, and nothing on the trophy list can be missed. That makes the sliders purely a comfort and challenge choice rather than a completion gate.
